My Childhood & Family Archives - Page 4 of 8

Hair growth on your ears? Remove them!

For the last 8-9 years of my life, there has been one outstanding feature of my personality – my ears….to be more specific, the hair on my ears.

Legend is that when the local barber`s scissors ran over my father`s hair…the neighboring village knew that my father was having a haircut. His hair was so strong and resisted death so much. But he lacked one feature…he didn`t have hair on his ears.

I remember studying in school that sometimes a particular gene is left in one generation and re-appears in the next – a phenomenon called Atavism (More on Atavism). Maybe, I have my grandpa to blame for the black, bushy set of hair on my ears.

Anyway, when I was 24 and the growth had just begun I asked my mother what this was and being the shy lady that she is, she just said: “Son, this means you are becoming a man. Now, start behaving like one.”

For the next nine years…I fought the battle alone. Today, I paid Rs 10,000 to VLCC (Vandana Luthra’s Cuts and Curves – yes, this is what VLCC means!) and now we will fight the battle together.

Waking up early and related sub-plots

by Jamshed V Rajan

As you are all aware, my grand father was a farmer-shepherd. My father interned as a shepherd before finding out that it wasn`t his calling and moved to farming. Farming involved getting up early and sleep walking to the fields two kilometers away, with two well built bullocks pulling you along.

Twenty days into farming, my father decided sleep was not something he was going to compromise on. So, he ran away to join the Military.

It is only these days that the kids don`t leave the first rope (read parents) till they find the second rope (read well paying jobs)… back then, youngsters didn`t mind letting go of the first rope even before the second rope was visible.

The cycle of life

by Jamshed V Rajan

When I was growing up…and was still a student… traveling to school by bus had an advantage – you could say, “Mam, the bus was late.” But there were two worry points – first it meant your pocket money was going into the conductor`s brown leather bag and second the girls didn`t look at you … Read more

Why is it “Before Christ”?

by Jamshed V Rajan

Good the historians didn`t go by his first name. If only the historians had gone by Jesus Christ`s first name…it would have been B.J. and not B.C.. If you aren`t literate enough, let me explain. B.C. stands for ‘Before Christ` (and A.D. stands for ‘After Death`)…and if only instead of ‘Christ`, the historians had taken … Read more

Growth Pangs – for a 30+ man

by Jamshed V Rajan

My mother always said that I had a million dollar look. I doubted her till I was tall enough to see in the small mirror mounted on our bathroom`s wall. After I saw myself in the mirror, my trust in my mother increased a million times. “She has taste”, I told myself. It has been … Read more

The increasing cost of living

by Jamshed V Rajan

In 1985 my father was posted in Akhnoor, Jammu (a border area) and thus couldn`t take his family along. Back then, I was 10 years old and was studying in the fifth standard. Every month, my father would send Rs 1500 to my mother, who would then manage the four-member family (me, my two sisters … Read more

Today is my 33rd happy birthday

by Jamshed V Rajan

The first birthday celebration of mine that I remember is when I was in class four and we were in Kholapur, Maharashtra. Those were the days when non-Maharashtrians could also live in Maharashtra. I remember my father taking me to a small time smuggler operating out of his house to buy me a nice pair … Read more

Flashback: My days in London

by Jamshed V Rajan

Year 1997 was a watershed in my life. I was adjudged Tamil Nadu`s second best Naval NCC Cadet (don`t ask me why I wasn`t the first – even my father didn`t dare ask), I spent seven days in UK and three months in Canada. We will leave my Canadian sojourn for now and focus only … Read more